Thursday, August 20, 2009

As you may have noticed, I will not be celebrating the Book Blogger Appreciation Week festivities with the bloggers who were nominated because apparently my blog is crap and I was not nominated. At all. For anything.

Don't get me wrong, I never expected to be nominated, but it's still surprising to find out that people think that the blog I work so hard on is complete crap.

So, I'd like your opinions. Why is my blog crap? Is it the reviews? The giveaways? The guest posts or author interviews? What is it lacking? What is there too much of? Can I recover from this or should I just throw in the towel now because I'm obviously making a fool of myself?

Really, I'd like to know so please be frank with your comments. Thank you in advance for your criticism.

16
comments:

I can't answer you question because I don't think your blog is crap. I like your blog, it was one of the first I ended up putting in my sidebar. I come here everyday and enjoy what I read. I say keep doing what you are doing because you are good at it.

Hmmmm... I think it just seems like everyone else got nominated because those are the people speaking up. I wasn't nominated for anything, either - there are hundreds of blogs that review books and have interviews and giveaways - I wouldn't get down about a lack of nomination, it just means the book blogging community is flourishing and there are lots of great ones to choose from.

Beth, it is a game theory thing. In more popular blogs, it is common for a reader to think that some other reader will nominate the blog for whatever it should be nominated for. Essentially, the buck just keeps getting passed. The game is called the volunteer's dilemma. Check it out and you'll see what I mean. Sorry you didn't get nominated, and obviously you run a great blog.

My blog wasn't nominated either, but I don't post for other people, I post what I want to post about. Yea, I mostly post about books, contests, and authors. But, I didn't nominate another either, though I did advertise for BBAW.

I don't think the point was to make anyone feel left out or that their blog is crap. I have nothing to do with the BBAW, but it from what I can see the categories are super niche-y. If you have a general book blog there is a lot of competition for very few categories.

Setting up, maintaining, and writing a blog is a tremendous amount of work. It is a near thankless job, but your readers do appreciate the effort. You obviously have a lot of dedicated readers (one being me). You are definitely not making a fool of yourself.

This is the first year I've been nominated for BBAW. I just started reading your blog and have enjoyed it thus far. Unfortunately, I started reading after the BBAW nominations were closed. I tried to be fair in my nominations and really look at the blogs that I enjoy most and what I enjoy most about them.

Now that you are in my Google Reader, I will give you the same close look as I did everyone else when making my nominations in 2010.

Beth, I really enjoy your blog, as obviously many others do. Don't get down on yourself. IMO, there are just so so many book blogs out there now. I've just added many new blogs (including yours) I've found to my google reader, but with so many books blogs and limited time, I try to focus on blogs of people who share my interest in Literary and Contemporary fiction --mostly.

I tried doing a few tours, but honestly for me that is too much pressure to read a certain book, by a certain time -- so that is not for me.

I personally, just blog about what I feel comfortable about. For me, that is book reviews, profiling new releases and keeping aware of "coming soon books", etc.

Just do what feels right; that is all that really matters -- at least that is how I feel.

I don't think you should take it personally. I wasn't nominated either. Honestly, this is my hobby. I do it for me and to connect to some really great people who share my passion for reading. I get your updates in my reader and enjoy visiting your blog.

If you aspire to a nomination, maybe take a look at the blogs that were nominated and see what you want to do to tweak your blog. That might help. But, like I said, I already enjoy your blog - IT'S NOT CRAP!

I didn't get nominated either :( but i agree with My Blog 2.0 (Dottie) - i post what i want when i want, its not a great blog but i have fun with it.You have a great site, i have enjoyed reading your reviews and entering the contests!Natalie :0)

Hi. I'm on the BBAW Awards panel. There are some categories that haven't been announced to the nominees as of yet. What I am trying to explain is that there are like... 9 or so... niche categories that required panels which requested the blog writers to submit URLs for judgment. HOWEVER, there are like 10 or more other categories that don't require the blogger to submit anything to the panel... like best name, best design, etc. So... you may have been nominated for another blog award and you just don't know it yet.

Also...you have a great following! You have 3 times the amount of Google Friends/Followers than I do! So, you're totally doing something right! Having friends and readers is the best award you can get!

I don't think that not being nominated means that your blog is crap. And it certainly doesn't mean that people think it is. Now if there was a category called 'Crap Blog' and you WERE nominated, that would be telling you something. I don't think anyone sat there, thought of your blog, and said to themselves, "I am not going to nominate her, she's crap."

Your blog is great and you write good reviews. It is a shame that you weren't nominated, but I wouldn't take it personally. There are A LOT of book bloggers out there. It is hard to compete with some of the big name ones because they have such a following that of course they are going to get the nominations.

Also, I love that you have Persona Non Grata on your pile of books to review. I LOVE the Medicus series!

I don't think your blog is crap -- I'm not sure how the voting for this worked, but a lot of the time, I think it's an a**-kissing and networking/popularity type of thing.

I _am_not_saying_ that BBAW's voting system works this way [I'm too busy with too many things right now to "investigate"] -- I'm just saying that a lot of these things work that way ;) [perhaps it's the same with certain writing contests too...].

I think you should just keep doing what you do anyway -- regardless of the amount (or lack of) accolades bestowed upon you. In the end, it's the quality of something that counts, not the window dressing...... :)

If you love doing it, then keep doing it. We writers have to do that too. Being recognized is wonderful, but what's better is that many, many people read your blog and find new books to read through it. You also do a great service to writers by doing reviews and taking the time to read the books. You are honest about what you think of books, and that is what readers want. Keep up the good work and don't let contests get you down. It can be a blow, but with all you do on this blog, I'm sure you can blow that blow off and continue doing what you love your way, which really is the way to do things if ya wanna stay sane!

If it makes you feel better, I was not nominated either!! :) Just because we have not been nominated does not mean we should quit. I will continue to frequent your site (now that I've found it!)!! :) I truly feel that we are probably in the majority!!